| From the Richmond Enquirer |
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| January 8, 1864 |
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| Railroad Transportation |
| The principal railroads in the Confederacy
are now sedulously engaged in endeavoring to increase their stocks,
and to provide for the contingencies of future service or loss. Under
the delusive expectation of an early termination of the war, the
railroad companies have, heretofore, relied almost wholly on their
existing stock, and made but few efforts at supply or reparation. They
scarcely husbanded their resources, which, under the exhausting
demands made upon them, became greatly diminished. Of late, with more
experience, a wiser prescience seems to guide their management. In
different parts of the Confederacy iron is now being provided and
rolled for machinery and the construction and repair of locomotives
and rolling stock. The Secretary of War has recommended that skilled
mechanics be furnished from the army for some of the more delicate
machinery needed by the railroads. |
| The railroad transportation is of
incalculable importance to the Confederacy. Shut off from the sea, and
with command of very few of its rivers, the Confederacy is dependent,
almost wholly, on the railroads for communication and transportation. |
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